Pastor Chris Brooks
GRAND PARKWAY BAPTIST CHURCH

How the Spirit Helps us to Hope
Romans 8:22-30
(Place each of these 3 groupings of questions on their own slide i.e. fight questions, then flight
etc...)
Fight Questions
1. What emotion do you fear feeling?
2. What is this emotion trying to tell you?
3. What is one way you can fight to feel the emotion you fear the most?
Flight Questions
1. What do you run to instead of God when you are afraid?
2. Who are the friends you trust to hear your fears and help you face them?
3. How will you strengthen this friendship when you are not afraid? (What do you need to do to
be a better friend?)
Freeze Questions
1. What frantic activities do you need to freeze?
2. How does the hope of the resurrection inform your relationship to fear?
3. What would change about your attitude and interactions if you truly believed God is working
all things together for good?
Three things that give you false hope
a. Thin theology of heaven
b. Thin theology of suffering
c. A compulsive need for total control
Mental Worship
1. What emotion do you fear feeling?
2. What is this emotion trying to tell you?
3. What do you run to instead of God when you are afraid?
4. Who are the friends you trust to hear your fears and help you face them?
5. How does the hope of the resurrection inform your relationship to fear?

GRAND PARKWAY BAPTIST CHURCH

Neil McClendon, Lead Pastor
Grand Parkway Baptist Church

Matthew 5:43-48
The Reassuring Power of Enemy Love

1. Enemy love is evidence of authentic faith, v. 43-45
2 Kings 6:20-23

2. Enemy love is how God loves, v. 45b-47

Two questions we have to answer today…
a) who do you love? v. 46
b) who do you greet? v. 47

3. Enemy love is God’s nature, v. 48
a) Jesus incites a pre-evangelistic despair that prepares us for the gospel.
b) You don’t need a relationship with God just for forgiveness; you need a relationship with Christ for capacity. 

Mental worship…
1. Do you feel capable of loving your enemies?
2. What is different about the way you love and greet from the way non-Christians love and greet?
3. Is there a “moreness” to the way you live? 
4. What is a first step you could take this week towards enemy love? 
5. Do you see God’s commands through the lens of His promise? 
6. Who do you spend time with that is like looking in a funhouse mirror? 

Neil McClendon, Lead Pastor

GRAND PARKWAY BAPTIST CHURCH

Matthew 5:38-42
How The Violence of God Triumphs Over The Violence of Man

1. The insufficiency of proportionate justice, v. 38
The law did three things...
a) takes punishment out of the realm of private vengeance
b) gave judges a clear and just formula for punishment
c) it forbid vendettas and excessive retribution

“...I have killed a man for wounding me...”
-Genesis 4:23

Why do we insist on retaliation?
a) embarrassment
b) justice
•
“Slowly and imperceptibly, the one true God begins acquiring the features of the
gods of this world. For instance, our God simply gratifies our desires rather than
reshaping them in accordance with the beauty of God’s own character. Our God
then kills enemies rather than dying on their behalf as God did in Jesus Christ.”

― Miroslav Volf,
Free of Charge: Giving and

Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace

c) unbelief

“If God were not angry at injustice and deception and did not make the final end to
violence God would not be worthy of our worship. Here, however, I am less
interested in arguing that God’s violence is not unworthy of God than in showing
that it is beneficial to us. Life has rightly drawn our attention to the fact that in a
world of violence we are faced with an inescapable alternative: either God’s
violence or human violence. Most people who insist on God’s “nonviolence”
cannot resist using violence themselves. They deem the talk of God’s judgment
irreverent, but think nothing of entrusting judgment into human hands, persuaded
presumably that this is less dangerous and more humane than to believe in a God
who judges! And so violence thrives, secretly nourished by belief in a God who
refuses to wield the sword.”

-Miroslave

Volf, Exclusion & Embrace

2. The capacity of life in the Kingdom, v. 39-42
• Matthew 11:12
As Christians we have the capacity to demonstrate four things...
a) a different response to evil, v. 39
• Romans 12:14-21
b) a different response to guilt, v. 40
c) a different response to authority, v. 41
d) a different response to need, v. 42

Mental worship...
1 Is there anybody that you’ve punished too much and you don’t know how to get
it back to where it should be?
2 Do you feel you actually have the capacity to respond differently when violated?
3 Does your response to evil say more about you or God?
4 How does the Gospel inform your response to the poor and needy?
5 What or who have you lost sight of?

Nov 2, 2025 

Neil McClendon, Lead Pastor
GRAND PARKWAY BAPTIST CHURCH

Communioin

I Corinthians 11:23-26
1. Remember Jesus
2. There is a new way to relate to God.
3. We are proclaiming the Lord’s death.

GRAND PARKWAY BAPTIST CHURCH

Matthew 5:33-37
The Insufficiency of Swearing

1. We must reclaim a sense of our self, v. 33-36
Here is the progression in how we lose ourselves...
1)we become disillusioned with ourselves
2)we become distrusting of ourselves
3)we become destructive towards ourselves

Signs you are losing yourself...
a)seeking external validation
b)difficulty with decisions
c)feeling lost
d)emotional fog
e)loss of identity
f) negative self-talk
g)always changing to fit in
h)increased anxiety and insecurity
Hebrews 6:13-16

2. We must reclaim simple speech, v. 37

Mental worship...
1. What do you point to when you go outside of yourself to establish your integrity?
2. Is there anybody in your life who has slowly stopped believing you?
3. What is the motive when you are less than truthful, less than forthright and lacking integrity in
your speech?
4. When is the last time you did something you didn’t want to do just because you couldn’t say,
“No”?

5. What needs to change in what you believe in order for there to be a change in how you talk?

Oct 19, 2025

GRAND PARKWAY BAPTIST CHURCH

Dr. Christopher M. Brooks
Pastor to Pastors | Local Church

Joy Is The Serious Business of Heaven
Abide in Love, Joy FULL
John 15:5–11

I. Key Theme: MENO AGAPE HARAH PLAYRAO
("Abide – Love – Joy – Full")

II. Abide (Meno) – Remain in Christ
Definition: To dwell, endure, make your home.

• Spiritual Practice:
  
  

 
Training the mind to return to God like a compass needle to north.
Reflection: What are you abiding in today?

III. Love (Agape / Hessed) – Steadfast Love
Definition: Loyal, never-ending, sacrificial love.
Scripture:
  • “No greater love…”
  • “Perfect love casts out fear.”
Reflection Questions:
  • Who loves you well?
  • Who or what taught you to love better?

IV. Joy (Harah) – Strength from the Lord
Definition: Gladness, delight, cheerfulness.
Scripture:
  • “The joy of the Lord is our strength”
  • “Everlasting joy will crown their heads” (Isaiah 35:10)
Reflection Questions:
  • What fills or drains your joy?

V. Full (Playrao) – Living in Wholeness
Evidence of abiding:
  • Keeping His commands
  • Loving God and others through the Spirit
  • Repenting quickly and returning
Not a strategy to avoid problems, but a skill to endure them.

VI. Neuroscience of Love & Joy
Dr. Allan Schore: Joy and attachment form brain development.
Right Brain (Fast Track):
  • Relational identity
  • Emotional connection
  • Character formation
Left Brain (Slow Track):
  • Logic, strategy, problem-solving
Critique of modern discipleship:
  • Left-brain heavy (doctrine, willpower)
  • Right-brain light (attachment, joy)
Call to become “full-brained” Christians
  • Combining emotion, intellect, and identity in Christ

VIII. Joy as a Spiritual Discipline
Joy is a theological virtue, not just an emotion.
Seen throughout Scripture:
  • Even in suffering (Paul: “sorrowful yet rejoicing”)
  • Jesus Himself was "for the joy set before him endured the cross”
Joy empowers us to face trials with strength and hope.
Quote: “Joy is the serious business of heaven” – C.S. Lewis

IX. Practical Steps to Abide in Love & Be Full of Joy
Abide
  • Spend time in Scripture and fellowship.
  • Make room for God’s Word in your life.
Love
  • Rebuild relational attachments to God and others.
  • Ministry without love is empty.
Joy
  • Joy is transmitted face-to-face and through voice.
  • “You make us joyful with your presence” (Ps. 21)
Full
  • Let the Spirit fill you.
  • Be delighted in God’s presence—and delight in others.

Oct 12, 2025

GRAND PARKWAY BAPTIST CHURCH

Neil McClendon, Lead Pastor
Grand Parkway Baptist Church

Matthew 5:31-32
A Gospel Informed Understanding of Divorce

Introductory thoughts…

1) read through the right lens
2) let Bible counsel Bible
3) seek to understand the cultural context
4) seek to understand the biblical context


Four questions we need to answer today….

1. Is there ever a biblical grounds for divorce?

a) adultery- “sexual immorality”
b) abandonment due to spiritual incompatibility

• Corinthians 7:12-16

c) abuse

• 1 Timothy 3:1-3
• Ephesians 5:28-30

2. How does divorcing someone make them commit adultery? Why is it considered adultery to marry a divorced person? 

3. So what do I do if I’m divorced and remarried and according to what I’ve heard today, I committed adultery? 

a) ask God’s forgiveness
b) ask your partners forgiveness
c) ask your former spouse’s forgiveness
d) stay committed to your relationship

• Samuel 8:4-9

Mental worship…

1. What lens do you read the Bible through?
2. Who or what has most shaped the way you think about marriage?
3. Do you think people have been hurt more by what the church says or doesn’t say about divorce?
4. Have you ever been a part of a church that practices church discipline?
5. What questions do you have after what you heard today?

Oct 5, 2025

GRAND PARKWAY BAPTIST CHURCH

Neil McClendon, Lead Pastor
Grand Parkway Baptist Church

Matthew 5:27-30
The High Price of Lust

1. Jesus upholds the sufficient sanctity of marriage, v. 27-28

• Genesis 2:24

God’s design for marriage…
a) priority loyalty- “Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother…
b) lifelong loyalty- …and hold fast to his wife…
c) bodily loyalty- …and they shall become one flesh.”

2. The eye reveals what is in the heart, v. 28

Lust does four things…
a) starts with dissatisfaction
b) turns people into things
c) teaches you to relate to the world out of your appetites instead of your understanding
d) trains you to sow to the flesh

• Galatians 6:7-8
• Galatians 5:19-21

Signs You Are Sowing to the Flesh
1) Pleasure becomes your master- "sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality . . .”
2) Worship is misplaced- “. . . idolatry, sorcery . . .”
3) Conflict is your pattern- “. . . enmity, strife, jealousy . . .”
4) You can’t control your emotions- “. . . fits of anger . . .”
5) Competitiveness is your posture- “..rivalries, dissensions, divisions . . .”
6) You refuse to celebrate others- “. . . envy . . .”
7) Escapism is a way of life- “. . . drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.”

3. Jesus is trying to change the way we view sin, v. 29-31

• Matthew 7:24-27


Mental worship…

1. In your opinion, have Christians changed the way the culture views marriage or has the culture changed the way Christians view marriage? 
2. Is there anybody or anything that you currently desire too much?
3. What struck you today as something you will need to think more about? 
4. If you are a Christian, how has your view of sin changed since you came to faith? 
5. How do you feel when the rain, floods and wind beat down on your life?

Sep 28, 2025  

GRAND PARKWAY BAPTIST CHURCH

Neil McClendon, Lead Pastor
Grand Parkway Baptist Church

The Inward Life of the Kingdom
Matthew 5:21-26

Four lenses for the rest of this chapter…
a) Jesus is more concerned with motive than checking the box
b) Christians are held to a higher ethical standard
c) The Gospel always invites us to think deeper
d) Truth turns radishes into carrots

1. Life in the Kingdom calls for integration, v. 21-22
a) name calling- “You fool!” 
b) insults
c) angry

Here is what we need to understand about anger…

1) anger manifests when your illusion of control is exposed
2) anger justifies your response to people and things with which you do not agree
3) anger requires something of others but never you
4) anger happens when you don’t know what to feel- anger is the soldier we send out to protect us.
5) anger is typically connected to fear

2. Reconciliation is inconvenient, v. 23-24

3. Integrated people can agree quickly, v. 25-26

Mental worship…

1. Are you more of a radish or a carrot when it comes to integration?
2. Have you dehumanized anybody lately in how you treated them or talked about them? 
3. Does anybody have something against you right now? 
4. How often are you inconvenienced in the name of obedience? 
5. Is there anything you know you need to do and are running out of time to do it?

Sep 21, 2025  

GRAND PARKWAY BAPTIST CHURCH

Neil McClendon, Lead Pastor
Grand Parkway Baptist Church

Do you think living by the Ten Commandments is enough to be right with God? What about the other 603 laws in the Old Testament? In this powerful message, Pastor Neil McClendon unpacks Jesus's statement that He came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. The sermon reveals how a "rules-based" relationship with God will always leave us condemned, and how true righteousness comes only through Jesus Christ

This message will help you understand:
  • Think Properly (v. 17)
  • Understand Deeply (v. 18)
  • Teach Rightly (v. 19)
  • Hear Clearly (v. 20)

To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here 👉  https://www.grandparkway.org/give


A Right View of the Law
Matthew 5:17-20


1. Think properly, v. 17

Thinking about the law...

a) the law cannot change your heart
b) God never intended for the law to be a perfect or permanent basis for our relationship with Him.
c) Jesus fulfills the demands of the law on the Cross
   • Colossians 2:13-15
d) Jesus’ fulfillment of the Law makes salvation possible for humanity
e) Jesus’ fulfillment of the law provides a different motivation for obedience

2. Understand deeply, v. 18

3. Teach rightly, v. 19
  • Galatians 3:23-26

4. Hear clearly, v. 20

Signs of self-righteousness...

1) Do not take feedback or criticism well
2) Outward focussed
3) Competitive
4) A comparative mindset
5) A lack of community orientation
6) You are not to be embarrassed

  • Philippians 3:1-12


Mental worship…

1. Are there areas where you are still striving or working to achieve something that Jesus has already accomplished for you?
2. Do you ever relax some of the things the Bible clearly teaches? If so, for who?
3. What consistently motivates you to obey God?
4. How often do you reference the law when talking to people about God?
5. Do you understand what it means to be self-righteous versus trusting in Jesus’ righteousness?